Incredibly, Star Trek:  Strange New Worlds is on it’s third season and it’s still excellent.  Many science fiction shows start out bad.  Some, like Star Trek: Picard, are bad for two seasons, then have a good season.  Some, start strong, but fizzle out, like The Mandalorian or Stranger Things.  The Orville was good for all three seasons, but it wasn’t part of a franchise.  That’s easier because there isn’t franchise lore that has to be respected.

Star Trek:  Strange New Worlds is set at a time just prior to the original Star Trek, so Captain Pike, James Kirk, Uhura, Scotty and Spock are all introduced.  This was also done in the movie, Star Trek, in 2009, with mixed results.  Strange New Worlds respects the canon and tries to emulate the feel of the original.

Season 3, episode 3, has an encounter similar to The Squire of Gothos episode of the original Star Trek.  That’s the episode where Trelane is an alien who messes with the crew, until his parents come by to chastise him and drag him home.  They aren’t necessarily the same aliens, and he messes with them in a completely different way, but it is a faithful and respectful treatment. The viewer didn’t need to recognize the parallels to enjoy the episode.  Here are the two aliens.

Season 3, episode 4, was too funny, and prompt this review.  This takes a little setup to explain. 

The Enterprise is testing out holodeck technology.  The computer needs detailed body scans to populate the simulation, so uses crew data from the transporter logs.  The holodeck characters will all look like crew members. 

The computer needs a large amount of source material to generate it’s own setting and scenario.  The tech officer feeds it a bunch of old detective mystery books.  The plot of the holodeck simulation involves a murder mystery that takes place in Hollywood in the 1960’s.  One of the cast members of a science fiction TV show is murder, and the suspects are the rest of the cast and crew.

This is all plausibly explained in the course of the episode, but all the pieces don’t initially fit together.  The only problem I had was that the Enterprise did not have a holodeck.  This is a scene from the holodeck’s fake episode of a 1960’s sci-fi show.  The character who sounds like William Shatner, is patterned after James Kirk, of the Enterprise crew.

For fans of the original, who are mostly retired guys like me, would recognize the gimmick.  It’s more on-the-nose than Galaxy Quest, but respectful and appreciated.  The holodeck testing goes poorly, so Captain Pike recommends that Star Fleet not deploy the technology on ships.

The episodes are well-constructed with a knowledge and appreciation of the original.

Star Trek:  Strange New Worlds is from now, so it isn’t perfect.  A few crew members are too alternative or traumatized, but they lighten up.  Star Trek: Discovery is filled with adult-babies, girl-bosses and irregular sexual identities.  Captain Pike and the first officer were introduced on that show, but it’s not worth watching for the back story.

Of the legacy characters, Uhura is too prominent for her role on the crew.  Spock is good, but written for too much romance.  Scotty is too insecure and indecisive.  McCoy isn’t on the crew, but ship’s doctor may be better than McCoy.

The original Star Trek would address contemporary topics in very subtle ways.  If this show is touching on modern societal topics, I don’t see it.  It’s very pleasant to have a franchise TV show that is engaging, well-written and respectful of the source material. I hope it lasts.